BERKELEY, Calif. – Juniors Daniella McMahon and Mikaela Watson each had a hat trick to help No. 18 Stanford women's lacrosse hold off Cal, 13-11, on Saturday afternoon.
Stanford (6-2, 2-1) won for the sixth time in seven games, and earned its 17th straight win over the Bears, dating back to 2008.
McMahon finished with four goals and a team-high five points, while Watson added an assist and finished with four points.
Sophomore Trudie Grattan made nine saves and sophomore Katherine Gjertsen sealed the win with a clutch goal in the final minutes.
Clutch. #GoStanford pic.twitter.com/3B16p7AfY3
— Stanford Lacrosse (@StanfordWLax) March 17, 2019
How It Happened
McMahon gave Stanford a 3-2 lead at he 17:29 mark of the opening half and Stanford never trailed again, but never led by more than three.
Watson capped a four-goal run and Stanford led 5-2 at the midway point of the opening half, but Cal (4-6, 1-2) closed within 5-4 at the 6:27 mark.
Buness and Watson closed the first-half scoring to give Stanford a 7-4 lead at the break.
Cal had the first two goals of the second half before McMahon broke through again, followed by a goal from senior Areta Buness for a 9-6 lead with 22:40 left.
The teams traded goals for the next 15 minutes and Stanford led 12-9 with 8:53 to play. But back-to-back scores from Cal made it a one-goal game with 5:33 remaining.
Stanford made several defensive stops before McMahon assisted Gjertsen as the shot clock wound down and just 1:25 left in the game.
By the Numbers
Senior Julia Massaro led the team with four ground balls and had three draw controls, which leaves her one short of matching the program's career draw control record held by Kelsey Twist (161) since 2005.
Senior Genesis Lucero also had three draw controls and three ground balls for the Cardinal.
McMahon filled the stat sheet with four goals, an assist, three ground balls, two draw controls and a caused turnover.
Cal out-shot the Cardinal, 33-29, and held a 15-10 edge in draw controls, while Stanford had a 22-19 advantage in ground balls.
Next Up
The Cardinal travels for its first Pac-12 road weekend when the team heads to Arizona State (Saturday, March 23 at 11 a.m.) and USC (Monday, March 25 at 4 p.m.). The matchup with the Trojans will be live on Pac-12 Networks.
Roll the highlights. ??#GoStanford pic.twitter.com/WuRjWMORHW
— Stanford Lacrosse (@StanfordWLax) March 17, 2019